End of a famous Aerodrome

Yesterday I attended the final Fly-in at RFC/RAF/Rolls-Royce, Hucknall Aerodrome with my friend the aviation author W.A.(Bill) Harrison. This historically important airfield just slipped into silence awaiting it’s next resurrection as an extension of the Greater Nottingham conurbation, no doubt to be populated by people who won’t ever give a thought to why their roads are named Kestrel, Peregrine, Merlin, Griffon, Welland, Derwent or Avon.

Started during the Great War (1917) as a Training Squadron, then Training Depot Station and Home Defence station, it went into Care and Maintenance in 1919. Apart from a little use by the Nottingham Aero Club, Hucknall was dormant until 504 County of Nottingham Auxiliary Squadron formed with Hawker Horsleys there in 1928. 504 were later re-equipped with Westland Wallace’s then Hinds and the Gloster Gauntlet, prior to them moving away with Hurricanes.

The Rolls Royce company formed an engine test flying unit there in 1934 and it is this operation which made Hucknall one of the most important aeronautical establishments with a vital role to play in the preservation of the United Kingdom. Hucknall saw the later testing of the Kestrel and Peregrine engines in both Hawker biplanes and a Heinkel 70. The PV12 engine, later to become the superb Merlin took to the air for the first time from Hucknall in a Hart. From then on the Rolls-Royce Merlin family was modified and refined at Hucknall for a variety of roles and types of famous British aircraft as well as the the superb North American Mustang.

Other equally famous Rolls-Royce engines, from the later piston engines such as the Griffon and the early Gas Turbine engines of the Jet age followed the rigorous testing and development process at Hucknall including the Derwent and Avon families which took us through the Cold War period.

Hucknall also played other important roles. A huge number of wrecked Hurricanes were returned to service by the Rolls Royce repair unit. There was the incident of the Luftwaffe pilot Fritz Von Werra, the only Luftwaffe pilot to (eventually) escape from British captivity, when he boldly tried to borrow one such Hurricane at Hucknall.

Hundreds of Polish pilots were also trained to fly on Tiger Moths at Hucknall.

A good few brave airmen were also lost, either in training or in testing at, or from Hucknall and should be remembered, whether they were training on a Tiger or flying in a Lancastrian, a Flying Bedstead or Vulcan.

As a boy “Spotter”, I climbed the adjacent coal pit tips to get a better view of the airfield and it’s resident experimental aircraft. Sitting in our garden at home under the extended circuit I spent many hours watching the Tyne Lincoln and Ambassador, or the Dart Dakota, Spitfire 14 and Whitney Straight. I visited Airshows there. I’m glad to have flown off the Hucknall turf in a number of aeroplanes, from a DC.3 and a Miles Marathon as well as later in a number of light aircraft, usually with my friend Bill.

The last aeroplanes to arrive and depart were light, private visitors almost exclusively powered by American engines with their owners rightly wanting to add a vanishing Hucknall aerodrome to their Log books.

There was nothing official, no patriotic speech, no growl of a Griffon, perhaps just in some peoples minds the Sigh for a Merlin.

John